


If You Can Dream It, You Can Be It

by WorldOfOurOwn



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Female Tommy Oliver, Gen, Team as Family, also it's starting off mild, but i am debating if i should include more shipping, but it'll get spicier later on, it's more of a focus on the team, only a little shipping, so if you want shipping that much, you can argue with me in the comments ;)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-09-01
Packaged: 2018-11-20 20:37:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11342766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WorldOfOurOwn/pseuds/WorldOfOurOwn
Summary: Just a week after Rita's attack on the town, a new Green Power Ranger is chosen, and no one is sure what this could possibly mean. The team doesn't know if they can trust this new Ranger, or if she'll end up just like Rita. To make matters worse, something menacing is on the horizon, and it's up to the Power Rangers to figure out what's happening before it's too late.That is, if it isn't too late already.





	1. Chapter 1

He had almost missed it— no, he would have missed it if the girl in front of him hadn’t rammed into him as he turned the corner.

“Jason, are you okay? Jason!” she shouted, leaning over him with her hand outstretched. 

He felt as though he had been temporarily displaced into some alternate dimension or space. The world around him felt far away, and he wasn’t sure that he would be able to reach the girl’s hand if he tried.

“What? Who…?” were the words he managed to form before losing all control of any motions. He had some vague thoughts questioning who this girl was and how she had managed to hit him, a power ranger, so hard, but the thoughts took too much time before he lost his patience with trying to think.

“Shit, I think I gave you a concussion,” she seemed to say, but it all faded out into the background.

There was a sharp ringing which he thought came from the concussion, but he realized that the noise was much too clear for it to be in his head.

He turned towards the source of the noise, and though everything around him was fuzzy and distant, he could see with impossible clarity the Green Power Coin within arms reach.

He stretched out his arm, but the second his fingertips brushed the surface of the Coin, he felt a searing heat stretch down his arm and throughout his body. If the world had been too far away before, now it was suddenly as though everything was packed in too tightly.

“Jason? Can you hear me?” she said, her blurry figure approaching him.

The world seemed to weigh down on him, everything collapsing in on him, and it made him so, so, so angry.

“Hey, Jason—”

God, it was all so much, too much, please just,

“—what’s going on?”

make it all

“Are you okay?”

“Stop!” he shouted, feeling his nails digging into the palm of his hand.

He swung his fist out but only felt it connect with air, the girl having disappeared.

The ringing in his head had also vanished. In fact, the only proof that anything had happened at all was the pounding of his heart that he could feel throughout his body.

He opened his clenched fist, half-expecting to see the Green Power Coin burning in his palm but only finding the half-moon marks from his nails.

When he looked up, he found himself in his bed, sitting in the comfort of his home. The only sound he could hear was the muted noise of crickets and his deep, heavy gasps.

No wait, there was also a faint buzzing that was decidedly different to the kind he had felt in his head. Different in a good way, for it signaled the incoming messages from his friends.

He ran a shaky hand through his hair, his other hand reaching for the phone on his night table. Actually it signaled the incoming messages from just one of his friends.  He saw multiple messages from Trini in the Rangers’ group chat and quickly moved to unlock his phone.

**The Breakfast Club™**

**TheCriminal** : Dude Jason are you ok? I got a bad feeling from the coin

 **TheCriminal** : Um, Jason?

 **TheCriminal** : Ok that's it I'm heading over rn

He quickly typed out a response to reassure her:

 **TheAthlete** : No, it's all good. Don't worry about it.

“Too late,” he heard, seeing Trini’s head pop in through the window, and he smiled, despite himself. “I’m glad to see you're not dead though.”

Jason chuckled and swung his legs over the side of his bed, “Sorry to wake you up for nothing.”

Trini shook her head and said, “No, I was already up. I _was_ confused that no one else was frantically texting to see if you were okay, but I guess whatever happened just wasn't big enough to wake anyone up.”

Jason wanted to say that it had felt big enough to wake the whole city up, but he didn't. It didn’t feel right, and Trini was standing in front of him looking as exhausted as usual, so instead he asked, “So what were you doing up?”

“No way. Don't make it about me, okay? I came here because for a split second I felt like I was about to kill someone,” she said, staring pointedly at Jason. “So what exactly had you so riled up?”

Jason sighed and said, “I honestly don't know. I was dreaming about this girl, and there was the Green Power Coin, but when I reached out to grab it, I was just filled with so much rage and frustration.”

He could already feels his pulse rising just thinking about. He took a deep breath before continuing, “I wanted everything to stop, but nothing did, so I …”

He cut himself off unsure of whether he even wanted to finish that thought, but Trini finished it for him.

“So you made it stop,” Trini said.

“Well I was going to,” Jason said, rubbing his face with his hands. “I was just about to smash in the face of the girl in front of me before I woke up,”

“Hm,” Trini hummed, and when Jason looked up at her, he saw the worry creasing her face.

“Don’t worry about it. It was just a weird dream,” he said with a light smile.

“Sounds like more than that,” Trini said, and she was more right than Jason wanted to admit.

Honestly, the dream scared him. He was afraid of how real it felt, of how much he wanted to hurt not just the girl, but everyone else in the town. Most of all, he was terrified at how angry he had become, and how _right_ being angry had felt. Anger had fit so well in his chest, and he wished so sorely that it didn’t.

“Maybe, but probably not,” he shrugged, ready to put it behind him. Jason noticed that she was still standing. He patted the spot next to him, gesturing for her to sit down, and he pretended not to notice her moment of hesitation before taking a seat.

“But now that I’ve told you about my dream, how about you tell me about yours,” he said, and when she whipped her head to look at him, he locked eyes with her. They were barely noticeable, but he could still see the bags under her eyes.

“Stop trying to deflect, Jason. I never even mentioned a dream,” Trini said, narrowing her eyes.

“No, you didn’t. But if you were feeling like mentioning one right now, then I’m all ears,” he said.

Trini didn’t respond, so Jason decided to continue on.

“You trust me right?” he asked, and Trini rolled her eyes almostly instantly.

“Duh. We almost died together. I kind of have to trust you at this point.”

“Then trust me with this, Trini,” he said, placing his hand over hers. “You can tell me what's going on.”

Trini hesitated for a moment, and Jason could feel her hand twitch under his, as though in a half-hearted attempt to hold his hand, before she pulled her hand out.

“It’s whatever, okay Jason? I'll be fine,” she said.

Jason must have looked skeptical because Trini immediately followed that with, “Look if you're fine, and I'm fine, then I'm just gonna go.”

She began to stand up, but Jason reached out his hand, stopping himself from grabbing her wrist at the last moment.

“Wait!” he said, his hand uselessly hanging in the air. Trini looked between him and his hand, some unreadable expression on her face. “Actually I could use the company. We don't have to talk about … We can talk about anything you want, but I just don't want to be alone right now.”

They both could tell he was saying it for the benefit of both sides, but it worked because Trini responded with, “Okay,” before sitting back down next to Jason.

“Thank you,” he said softly, because he really didn’t feel ready to be alone yet. Just having Trini there had helped him calm down so much, and he was afraid that if she left, the anger would just come rushing back.

“For what? I haven't even done anything,” she said.

“You being here is enough,” he said, and he hoped that he had sounded sincere because it was the truth.

He leaned back to lie down, all the while staring at Trini with pure adoration in his eyes.

“You sap,” she teased, looking back at him and rolling her eyes, but she lied down next to him anyways. “You gotta stop looking at me like that or all the girls will get jealous.”

“On the contrary, they’ll all be too busy looking at you to even spare a glance at me,” Jason said with a grin, and Trini shoved him playfully.

“Ugh, you’ve been spending too much time with Zack. You’re starting to sound like him,” she said.

“I feel obligated to be offended for him,” Jason said.

“Don’t. He’s not worth your offense,” Trini scoffed, but Jason just chuckled.

“Alright, ‘crazy girl.’ Whatever you say.”

“You suck,” Trini said, but Jason just laughed.

And after a moment of silence, he heard Trini whisper, “Thank you too.”

He smiled and reached out his hand for hers, only going so far as to where the fingers touched. He allowed Trini to be the one to really pull their hands together.

They lay there as the comfortable silence stretched out before them, and Jason wished that he could in some way show Trini his gratitude for moments like these. Moments where they could almost forget about the responsibility of the world on their shoulders because they were breathing in synchrony, and that was all that really mattered.

It was an indeterminable amount of time before Jason turned to face Trini and found her asleep, having succumbed to the exhaustion of what he assumed were multiple sleepless nights.

Jason swore to himself that he would stay up until the dawn, in case Trini had anymore nightmares. He wasn’t quite feeling ready to sleep just yet anyways.

And when she wakes up in the morning, they won’t talk about it, but Jason will think that maybe this is enough.

 

* * *

 

**The Breakfast Club™**

**TheBrain** : Jason, I just woke up. Is everything alright? Are you okay?

 **TheAthlete** : Yeah, don’t worry Billy everything is fine I just had a weird dream

 **ThePrincess** : What like a dream about Rita?

 **TheAthlete** : No

 **TheAthlete** : It’s really not that big of a deal. It was just about the Green Power Coin

 **TheBasketCase** : ummmm??? you guys are missing the most important question???

 **ThePrincess** : Whatever you’re about to say … Please don’t …

 **TheBasketCase** : omg how could you betray me kim

 **ThePrincess** : It was actually really easy tbh

 **TheBasketCase** : i thought that i could trust you

 **TheBasketCase** : wow rUDE

 **TheBrain** : Wait, guys maybe we should listen to Zack’s question?

 **TheBasketCase** : omg billy you da tru og

 **TheBrain** : Thanks, but I don’t know what you just said?

 **TheBasketCase** : ok but srsly tho what happened between trini and jason last night?

 **TheAthlete** : Well you know … A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell ;)

 **ThePrincess** : Oh my God Jason. I think you’ve been spending too much time with Zack

 **TheAthlete** : Actually that’s what Trini said too

 **TheBrain** : Well we’ve all been spending the same amount of time with each other

 **TheAthlete** : So what you’re saying is we’ve all been spending too much time with Zack

 **TheBasketCase** : haha very funny. you can’t joke ur way out of this one pretty boy!

 **TheAthlete** : … I’m pretty boy?

 **ThePrincess** : Zack omg are you jealous that Trini is stealing Jason from you?

 **TheBasketCase** : omg kim i thought you would want to know what happened btwn them too

 **ThePrincess** : Um, why specifically me?

 **TheBasketCase** : … did you really just ask me that?

Zack finally began approaching the front of the school to find Kim already waiting outside. They made eye contact, and even at his distance, he could see the annoyed and amused expression on her face as he sprinted forward

“Hey there, _princesa_ ,” he teased, sliding to a stop in front of her only slightly out of breath.

Kim rolled her eyes and said, “Don’t call me that.”

“What? Is Trini the only one allowed to call you that?” he said with a laugh.

Kim paused for a moment, pretending to think about it.

“No. Actually everyone except you is allowed to call me that,” she said with a smirk.

“Oof,” Zack said, putting a hand over his chest in faux offense. “You’re killing me, Hart!”

“Besides,” Kim said, a wicked grin forming on her face, “maybe you should save the cute nicknames for ‘pretty boy’ over there.”

Zack looked over his shoulder and saw Jason walking up with Trini by his side.

“Did somebody say my name?” Jason asked, glancing between Kim and Zack with an eyebrow raised.

“You guys are ridiculous,” Trini said, though she had a slight smile on her face.

“But you love us,” Zack crowed, moving to sling his arm around Trini’s shoulder before she elbowed him in the stomach.

“Shut up,” she said, and Zack covered his stomach in pain.

“Someone’s in a good mood today,” Kim said. “You didn’t even insult Zack.”

“Yeah, well don’t get used to it princesa,” Trini said, ignoring Zack’s muffled snort.

“Hey guys!” Billy called out as he exited the car. He walked towards the group before stopping and turning back to his mom to say, “Oh, uh, see you later mom. I love you.”

He turned and headed back towards the group.

“You all waited for me?” he said with a crooked smile on his face.

“We sure did, Billy,” Jason said. “And as much fun as this has been, maybe we should actually head into detention?”

He began to head in, only pausing for a moment to see if everyone else was following him.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Billy said, nodding his head as he headed up the steps to the school, and the rest of the group followed.

As they walked through the hallway, their good-natured conversation continued with Zack, Trini, and Kim all poking fun at each other. Jason could hear his new nickname “pretty boy” being tossed around and Trini lamenting how she “didn’t have time to check the group chat this morning.” This was in turn followed by Zack pestering her about what had happened last night between Trini and Jason.

Jason and Billy, however, walked side by side ahead of the others and remained out of the conversation. As Billy fidgeted with his hands, Jason looked over and saw a box that suspiciously reminded him of a detonator.

“Billy, is that…?” he asked, just a little bit afraid of what Billy was going to say.

“Huh?” Billy said as he looked up at Jason, and Jason was almost scared of the excited look in Billy’s eyes. “Oh yeah, see I was thinking about our Power Coins and how we found them in the gold mine after I blew up half of the mountain, and I thought that maybe I might be able to find the Green Power Coin if I—”

“Blew up the other mountains?” Jason interrupted.

“Yeah! Well, kind of,” Billy said, and he paused outside of the door to detention, “but I’m not gonna go around blowing up every mountain in the gold mine since that would probably get us in a lot of trouble, considering how we got into that car chase and then got hit by that train the first time we found our coins, so I’m trying to work out where—”

“Billy,” Jason said, holding his hands in front of him. Billy realised that they were the only ones in the hallway, the others having already headed into the room.

“Yeah, Jason?”

“Just … try to be careful, okay?” Jason said, a worried look on his face, and Billy nodded.

“Right. Be careful. I can do that. Okay,” Billy said, the fidgeting in his hands slowing down a little.

“Okay,” Jason said while lowering his hands, and Billy echoed Jason once more before they both entered the room.

Jason turned around to look at Billy once more, both of them nodding at each other before heading to their seats.

He had just barely sat down when Kim tossed a note over to him. He had only barely heard the note whipping through the air before he caught it, his Ranger reflexes reacting before he could even tell what he was reacting to.

When he opened the paper, he felt his love for his teammates swell in his chest, and he couldn’t stop the grin that happened instantly. She had drawn a lightning bolt with their Ranger colors filling it up.

They shared a smile before he passed the note back, and he watched as it was passed around to the others, who all seemed excited in their own way.

“Oh, we have a new detention student,” their teacher said, cutting into their fun. “Tommy Oliver.”

Jason narrowed his eyebrows as he felt a faint buzzing from his Coin, getting stronger each time the teacher called the name.

It was at that moment that Billy decided to fail at being careful as a loud boom sounded.

He could hear Zack snort in the background, and as he looked over, he saw Kim hide her face while her shoulders shook with silent laughter. He met Trini’s eyes, and she smirked before looking back at the others.

Billy was called forward to the teacher’s desk, where Jason could vaguely hear something about “extended detention” and another thing about “talking to the principal.”

Suddenly the doors burst open, as a girl came in with messed up hair and a semi-frightened look on her face. Jason had never met her, but he instantly recognized her.

“Uh, there was an explosion in the hallway?” she said, moderately confused that nobody in the room seemed to care.

“You must be the new detention student. Tommy Oliver?” the teacher droned on.

“Yes?” she said.

“Alright then, please take a seat. Don’t mind the explosion, it was just Cranston,” the teacher said, looking back at his papers.

At this point, Tommy only looked more bewildered. She looked at Billy, who had a sheepish look on his face as he fidgeted with the detonator in his hands, and wondered what kind of town this was where explosions were no big deal.

“Right. Okay,” she said quietly to herself as she walked over to her seat.

Jason stared at her, unable to look away. She was incredibly tall, almost appearing as though she could easily tower over any of them. She also looked more fit than the entire team combined, and Jason didn’t doubt that she could probably beat them all in a fight.

She looked over at him, and they locked eyes for a moment as she leaned back into the uncomfortableness of her seat before Jason looked back down at his desk. The buzzing from his Coin turned into a burning sensation.

 _Do you know who that Tommy Oliver is?_ he quickly scrawled on a note.

He checked and found Tommy had switched her attention away from him to the work on her desk. Then, he quickly tossed the note over to Trini.

She opened it, looked over at Tommy, and scribbled something down before passing it back to Jason. He quickly unfolded the paper.

_yeah she’s the new kid_

_moved here a couple weeks ago_

_why?_

He quickly wrote his response and passed it back towards Trini.

He saw her eyes grow wide as she read the note, looking up towards Jason, then towards Tommy, and finally back to Jason.

_Because she’s the girl from my dreams._

 

* * *

 

Once detention ended, Tommy was the first out the door, the rest of the team staring at her back as she exited. They had all been informed through frantic note tossing that Jason had seen Tommy in his dream, though the details of said dream were still very vague. He promised to tell them everything at practice, but everyone seemed ready to get answers as soon as they were out of the class.

“Are you sure you’ve never seen her around? I mean, I thought it wasn’t possible to dream of faces you’ve never seen before?” Kim said, looking to her friends for confirmation.

“Dude, we have super strength and have literally seen Rita use magic before our eyes,” Zack countered. “At this point, I think it’d be weirder to say that his dream wasn’t some sort of magic vision.”

“Also,” Billy said, raising his finger, “it’s only really speculation that you can’t see new faces, since you can’t actually prove it in any concrete way, but yeah I would say magic is also highly likely.”

“Look, guys, let’s just get back to Zordon as fast as we can so we can ask all these questions there. He has to have some answers to this,” Jason said, waving off all of their questions.

He had already had his suspicions, but seeing Tommy and feeling the burning from his Coin had made him very sure that this wasn’t just any regular old dream he was having.

He opened the door to his beat up truck, and the rest of the team wordlessly agreed that Jason was gonna drive them there. They also wordlessly agreed that Billy would get the front passenger seat. Obviously.

Though nobody else really understood what was happening, all they knew was that Jason was feeling anxious which was reason enough to worry. He tapped his finger on the steering wheel as he drove over to the mines, the others trying to keep light conversation throughout.

As the ride to the mines ended, however, the team began to mirror Jason’s attitude as the conversation came to a stop.

“Okay guys. Let’s go get some answers,” he said, and they all raced to get to the ship.

It was all routine at this point, jumping off of the cliff and swimming down, but Jason could never get over the feeling of taking the leap each time. As he fell through the air, the world around him stopped, and for a moment, he felt free.

Then he hit the water, and it was back to having so many questions that he didn’t know if Zordon even had the answers to.

“Oh, Rangers! You’re here!” Alpha greeted, as they walked into the ship’s main control room.

“Greetings,” Zordon said, his face rippling in the center of the wall, always watching and waiting. “I don’t recall there being a meeting scheduled for today. Is something the matter?”

“I just need some answers to a dream I had,” Jason said. “Last night I dreamt that I had found the Green Power Coin after this girl knocked me over, and just today I found out that she actually goes to our school. Is this some sort of vision or a prediction of the future? What could it possibly mean?”

“Hm,” Zordon hummed, which Jason could feel vibrate in his chest. “I’ve never heard of any Power Ranger getting a vision before. Are you sure it wasn’t just a normal dream?”

Jason shook his head and said, “It certainly didn’t feel like any other dream. It was so real, and when I touched the Green Power Coin it … I felt this burning rage course through my body. Strong enough that Trini could feel it through her Coin.”

“Is this true?” Zordon asked, swivelling his head to position himself next to Trini, causing her to take a step back.

“Yeah, it was pretty intense. For a moment, I felt like I was about to destroy the whole town or something,” she said, sharing a look with Jason before focusing back on the enormous face of Zordon staring down at her, “and I’m pretty sure that I only felt a fraction of what Jason was feeling.

“Besides,” Jason added, “when I saw Tommy, my Coin started reacting, which means that something has to be going on with her.”

“This is deeply troubling,” he muttered softly, but for him, “softly” still echoed throughout the room. “Alpha, do you have any explanation for this?”

“It is possible that the Coin has found and chosen its next Ranger but that it also possesses some of Rita’s leftover magic. While reconnecting with the other Coins, perhaps it inadvertently sent a vision in the form of a dream,” Alpha said, tapping his chin, or whatever that metal part of his face was, with his finger.

“But then how come was Jason the only one to get a vision? And how come his was the only Coin to react to her?” Billy spoke up.

“Because he is the Red Ranger,” Zordon said, swivelling once again. “As the leader of the team, he carries the strongest connections with every team member. The most unsettling thing is the deep anger you say you felt when you touched the coin.”

“Touching another Ranger’s coin allows you to feel with more clarity the emotions the other is feeling,” Alpha explained, “but it should still be muted. If you felt it that strongly, it means that the girl you saw would have been feeling an even stronger anger.”

Jason furrowed his eyebrows and said, “That can’t be. Tommy didn’t look even half as angry as I felt. At most, she looked worried over having knocked me down.”

“Well, it is possible that instead of feeling this Tommy’s emotions, you were feeling the remainders of Rita’s emotions,” Alpha said, and suddenly the room temperature seemed to drop.

“What, so Rita’s still around?” Zack asked, beginning to stand up taller as he looked around to his friends, specifically Billy and Trini.

“Not exactly. The fact that the Coin is fully reconnecting to the morphing grid is a sign that Rita’s finally lost her grip on it. It’s more like … an imprint of her is left on the coin,” Alpha said.

“So what does that exactly mean for us?” Jason questioned, holding his hands in front of him.

“It means that you should be wary of this Tommy character,” Zordon said. “If remnants of Rita are still on the coin, we cannot predict the effect this could have on the teenager the Coin has chosen. Nothing like this has ever happened before”

“Actually, I have a question about that,” Kimberly said, finally speaking up. “How come Rita was chosen to be the Green Ranger if she went bad? I mean, the Coins are supposed to choose people who are worthy, aren’t they?”

Zordon remained silent, so Alpha began explaining to the team.

“Yes, the coins do choose people who are worthy, which means that Rita had immense potential for good. But everyone has the potential for evil. Rita …” Alpha said, trailing off for a moment, unsure of how to continue.

“It’s my fault,” Zordon finally said, picking up where Alpha left off. “I pushed her away from us toward a path of bitterness and darkness when she could have been such a force for good.”

For a moment, Jason thought he could see, or really hear, just how tired Zordon was.

“Rita came in at a delicate time,” Alpha said, more in an attempt to console Zordon than to explain for the Rangers. “The team was still recovering, and Zordon wasn’t the only at fault.”

“But I was supposed to lead them through it all!” Zordon shouted, causing everyone to stumble backwards. He continued more quietly, “I was supposed to be the one to welcome her in, but I was the first person to push her out.”

“Wait, recovering from what?” Jason ventured softly.

Zordon turned his head, as though in an attempt to avoid facing any of them.

“We had lost our Green Ranger in battle. Rita came in to replace him, but we were all so devastated and …” Zordon paused, turning to look at Jason once more. “Be wary of Tommy, but don’t make the same mistake as I did. Don’t push her away and make her into someone she’s not.”

The room was silent for quite some time as Jason looked around at his friends, meeting their uncertain and fearful eyes.

He wasn't sure what was running through all of their heads, but all Jason could think of was the idea of losing a teammate. It had already happened once, and he didn't want it to happen again. But as much as he wanted to protect his friends, how could he know for sure he'd be able to? Just because you're willing to give your life for them, doesn't mean you'll get the chance to.

Jason sighed before turning to address his team. “Look, let’s just cancel practice today. I don’t think any of us are in quite the mood to train today. Let’s just take this weekend to … process everything.”

Everyone seemed to murmur their assent, turning to head out of the main room. Trini and Kimberly walked out with each other, with Kimberly grabbing Trini’s hand to hold onto. Trini eventually leaned onto Kim for support.

Billy seemed to want to wait for Jason, but Zack shook his head at Billy. He pointed his head towards the exit and waited. Billy looked confused for a moment, looking torn between Jason and Zack. Eventually though, he relented, following Zack to exit the ship.

Finally, it was just Jason, standing in front of Zordon. He wasn’t sure what he was waiting for. He had no more questions to ask, but still, he wanted more answers.

“Jason, you must be strong for your team,” Zordon said. “No matter what happens, you must be their beacon, their guiding figure. Even when you doubt yourself and your actions, you need to be the one they look toward.”

“I know,” Jason said, but he didn’t sound anything like a leader should, his shoulders slumped and his eyes downcast.

When he imagined a leader, he imagined someone with the strength and confidence to lead their team to victory. He imagined someone with years of experience to help everyone through. He imagined Zordon, a booming voice with all of the above qualities. What did Jason have to offer?

“But then again, you are a better leader than me.”

“ … What?” Jason said as his head shot up. He wasn't sure if he had even heard correctly.

“You did what I could not,” Zordon said. “You are the one who led your team to save Angel Grove and defeat Rita. You are the one who has brought your team this far. You know more about being a leader than I ever did. Trust yourself, Jason. You already know what kind of leader you need to be.”

 

* * *

 

Jason got home after dropping off everyone else at their respective homes, with the exception of Trini who accepted Kim’s invitation home. Jason would have invited Billy or Zack over, but he was honestly exhausted after everything. Running on so little sleep last night and dealing with the stress of Rita’s possible return had made him ready to just crash, which he did the minute he made it into his room. He could already feel himself drifting off when his sister Pearl barged in.

“Jason! Don't tell me you're already sleeping. It’s not even dark yet!” she complained, shaking his body.

“Mmph,” Jason made a muffled response, his face buried in his pillow.

“Come on, how can you be so tired already?” she said, continuing to poke and prod her older brother.

Jason finally shifted his face to look at his sister with a fond smile and said, “It happens to everyone eventually. One day you will be a sad and tired teenager too.”

“Nuh-uh,” she said, shaking her head. “When I grow up, I'm gonna be way more fun and have the energy to go on lots of cool adventures!”

Jason chuckled and said, “Oh yeah? What kind of adventures?” He rolled to face her better, resting his head on his hand.

“Well I wanna be like the Power Rangers when I grow up!” she said, and at this he raised his eyebrow. “Me and my friends are gonna have epic fights and save lives together!”

“Is that so?” he murmured. “You wanna be like the Red Ranger?”

Around the house, his father loved to recount how the Red Ranger had saved his life, wondering how his mysterious savior knew his name. But Pearl seemed to have a different idea.

“Nah. I mean he's cool and all, but I'd rather be my own Ranger. Like the Purple Ranger!” she said with a wide grin.

“But don’t you think that being a hero isn’t all it’s cracked up to be” he said with a wry smile. Of course when he was a kid, he remembered wanting to be a superhero. Now? Not so much.

“Ugh, why do you have to take everything so seriously?” she said, and Jason laughed.

“It’s another curse of growing up,” he said ruffling her hair as she batted his hand away.

“Hmph,” she said as she straightened her hair back out. “Well I think that as long as I have my friends by my side, everything would be alright. Even if it did get hard sometimes.”

Jason smiled and nodded his head, “Yeah, you’re probably right.” He flopped onto his stomach again, burying his face in his pillow, and said with a semi-muffled voice, “Anyways, I’m completely beat, so I’m afraid I’m gonna have to kick you out right now.”

Pearl deflated and turned to leave said, “Okay then.”

“Hey,” Jason said, holding out his fist. “I’ll play with you tomorrow evening, alright?”

Pearl grinned and bumped fists at him.

“Definitely! Night Jason!” she said, and she walked out of his room, closing the door behind her.

He was the leader of the team, but he also had to remember that he did have friends at his side. He had _family_ at his side, and no matter how tough things were going to get, they would get through it together.

They would get through it. Everything would be alright. It was all okay.

He thought these phrases over and over, like a mantra, until he finally drifted off to sleep.

He was okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahaha i love how i'm already straying from the outline i planned
> 
> let's hope this fic actually stays as 20 chapters long :P


	2. Chapter 2

_It felt so right in her hands. For the first time, something in her life felt_ right _, and all she could think of was that of course it had to come in the aftermath of destruction._

_She squeezed out from under the twister metal of what was once a spaceship and of what was probably her fault. Just existing seemed to be enough to bring misfortune to those around her._

_She wasn't sure if there were any other survivors from the crash, and honestly she couldn’t even remember much of the crash happening. The only thing she can fully remember is opening her eyes to see the glowing, green coin in her hand._

_She ran her fingers over the scratched surface, feeling the power pulsing underneath the surface._

_“You're the next Green Ranger,” she heard someone whisper next to her, and she started, falling backwards on her hands._

_She looked up to see another woman holding out her hand with a small smile._

_“Sorry,” the woman said. “I didn't mean to frighten you. I'm Lekra. What's your name?”_

_She knew who Lekra was. They had grown up in the same city back on Eltar, and basically all the kids had known her. She was beautiful, which was the only reason she really needed to be popular, but she was also incredibly kind-hearted. People were surprised when Lekra had been relocated to a new planet, which was deemed as somewhat of a punishment for those who were unwanted or too poor to afford a life on Eltar._

_“R-Rita,” she responded, her voice rough from lack of use. Of course Lekra wouldn't remember who she was. She was a nobody after all. “My name is Rita.”_

_Lekra grinned, “That's a beautiful name. C’mon, I want you to meet my friends.”Lekra pulled her up with a strength that surprised Rita, and Rita was barely able to stutter out a thanks before Lekra was pulling her along at a pace that she wasn't sure she could keep up at._

_Finally they came upon a spaceship that looked grander and much more important than the ship Rita had been a passenger of. This wasn’t just any ordinary passenger shuttle, Rita could tell._

_Lekra held out a coin that looked similar to the one Rita had found, except hers was yellow. It glowed for a moment before the door suddenly slid open, and Lekra looked back at Rita encouragingly._

_Lekra held out her hand once more, and Rita grabbed it hesitantly. This time Lekra didn't rush, allowing Rita to move forward at her own pace, giving her hand an occasional squeeze for support._

_Lekra guided Rita through the halls of the ship, until they came to a room where four others were gathered._

_They were all quiet, only exchanging the occasional murmur and whisper while sitting next to each other. When Lekra entered the room with Rita, they all turned around and looked up._

_“Why have you brought a civilian on board?” one of them asked, his eyes narrowed. His tone was much louder than necessary for the space they were in, and it was a stark contrast to the hushed voices that others carried before._

_“I found her among the wreckage of yesterday’s crash,” Lekra said, turning towards Rita. “Show them what you found.”_

_Lekra held out her yellow coin and nodded at Rita to do the same. Rita raised her clenched fist, opening it to reveal the coin she had woken up with. She looked around at the people gathered in the ship and watched their varied reactions._

_Those of them that were sitting stood up, some opening their mouths in shock and some simply widening their eyes. All of them, however, took out a coin just like hers, and she saw how they all glowed from within._

_“She’s the next Ranger,” the loud one said much softer, though his voice still filled the room. His coin glowed a deep and bright red._

_“That’s right,” Lekra said, letting go of Rita’s hand to walk over to her friends, and Rita already missed the contact. She wished for Lekra’s support once more. Lekra stood next to the man who had spoken, waving Rita over._

_“Zordon, meet Rita,” she said, holding out her arm to gesture for Rita to step forward. Rita complied, moving until she stood awkwardly in front of the man named Zordon._

_“Welcome to the team, Rita,” he said stiffly, giving a small and sharp nod, which Rita failed to return._

_“I’m sorry, I’m afraid I don’t understand,” she said softly, her pitch quite a bit higher than usual._

_“We are the Power Rangers,” Zordon said, and he seemed more relaxed to have something to explain, “a group of people sworn to defend life in the universe. We are stationed here to protect the Zeo Crystal, the source of life for this planet.”_

_“The Green Power Coin has chosen you to join us as the Green Power Ranger,” Lekra said, the smile having disappeared, being replaced by a serious face similar to Zordon’s._

_“Me?” Rita said, her voice shaky. She looked down at the Power Coing in her hand, it’s vibrant green suddenly seemed menacing. “I-I’m sorry. There’s no way— I can’t help you. I’m not—”_

_Rita started to back away, stumbling a bit before Lekra reached her and steadied her. Lekra held a firm grip on Rita’s arm, looking into her eyes._

_“You are the Green Ranger. Whether you feel ready or not, you are the one the Coin has chosen, and you are the one who is meant to be a part of this team,” she said, her tone serious but her eyes soft and understanding._

_“We know what you’re going through,” one man finally spoke up, his Coin glowing a dark black. “It’s a daunting task to take on, but we’ve all been there. We will help you through.”_

_Rita looked around and found everyone else nodding along, voicing their agreement. Even Zordon, easily the most intimidating out of them all, looked at her with a softer gaze. She looked back at Lekra, who smiled back at Rita._

_“See? You’re one of us now,” she said, and as terrified as Rita was, the prospect of being a part of something put her at ease._

_Maybe for once, she didn’t have to be alone, and maybe she’d finally belong somewhere. She looked back down at the Coin once more, and squeezed her fist around it._

_She took a deep breath and nodded._

_“Ok.”_


	3. Chapter 3

The second that the alarm went off at 4:00 AM, Zack’s hand had already slammed down on it. It probably had something to do with Ranger reflexes or something, though he never got around to asking the others about it. It wasn't a problem anymore anyways.

The first couple of weeks with his new abilities, he'd cracked and broken more alarm clocks than he cared to count. It was funny at first, but it got more annoying each time he had to waste money on buying another one. At this point, he had learned to avoid completely destroying them. In fact, he was proud to say that the dents and cracks in his current clock were more from its previous owners than from Zack’s occasional loss of control.

He was only to blame for the chip in the corner of the screen which had … just happened. He couldn't fault himself for being a little jumpy this morning though.

He stretched the aches that had settled into his bones over night. Sleeping in abandoned train cars had a tendency to do that, but the pain wasn't so bad. At least it helped with getting his mind off of everything.

Last night had been particularly rough, and not only because of Rita’s potential return. His mom had been having a rough evening, and as much as he wanted to be there for her, he needed to get away.

It was almost humorous really—he’d probably laughed about it already while wandering the train tracks by himself. The very train tracks he'd “died” at.

And that was exactly the point. Jumping onto the roof of a moving car? No problem. Leaping across a chasm? That was the most fun he’d had in years. Almost dying in an attempt to save the town? He'd do it again in a heartbeat.

But he was such a coward when it came to his mom.  

He headed back home to pick up the uniform for his job at the cafe. He did so as quietly as possible, slipping around the trailer like he was a ghost.

The only noise he made was when he prepared some food for his mom. He wasn’t sure when she would wake up, so he made more of a lunch than a breakfast and set it by her bedside. He left without bothering to get anything for himself.

On his way out of the trailer park, he ran into none other than Tommy Oliver, sitting outside of what was presumably her own trailer.

She glanced up at him and gave him a sort of halfhearted smile, to which he returned a full grin. He had learned how to fake it exceptionally well.

“Someone's up early,” he called out as he approached her, pausing in front of her.

“More like up late,” she said wryly. “What time is it?”

Zack laughed. “Damn, what kind of delinquency did you get up to last night? It's about 4:30.”

“Why do you assume I was up to delinquency?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“What else would a fellow detention student be up to?” he said with a shrug.

“Maybe I just didn't feel like sleeping,” she said, and Zack nodded. That was a sentiment he was sure all the Rangers were familiar with. Maybe Tommy would fit in better than they had feared.

“What're _you_ up this early for?” she asked.

“Work,” he said. “I got the early shift at the Angel Grove Cafe. Y'know, the only place that serves donuts now that the almighty Krispy Kreme is gone?”

Tommy’s eyes widened and she said, “Yeah I know the one. My brother David actually works the morning shift there too.” She stood up and dusted off her jeans. “Mind if I join you? I'm kind of in desperate need of coffee anyway, if that wasn't already evident.”

“Sure, dude. It's all cool with me,” he said, getting a good look at Tommy for the first time.

She seemed to hold herself casually as though to seem less intimidating and more friendly. It kind of worked, but mostly it highlighted how scary she would be if she didn’t try to hide it, which was a scary realization in itself. It didn't help that her knuckles looked slightly bruised.

Her hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail, a dark brown that complimented her brown skin. Her face had a harshness to it, caused by the angled structure of her jawline and cheekbones. Even when she smiled, it didn't cover up the severity of her appearance.

Still, Zack could tell that she was making an effort to seem approachable, which he had to admit was a sweet gesture.

He also noticed slight burn scars on the outside of her right arm until Tommy shifted her arm away, and Zack realized he was staring. Tommy began to move towards the cafe, and Zack followed.

“I'm Zack by the way. I didn't know David had a sister, but I can see the resemblance,” he said, fast-walking to catch up to Tommy.

“Really?” she said, slipping her hands into her pockets. She raised her eyebrow. “In what way?”

“You guys are both _ripped_ ,” he said, pulling a laugh out of Tommy.

“Alright. That's not the response I was expecting,” she said, looking over Zack thoughtfully.

“What were you expecting?” Zack said, turning to look at her and meet her gaze.

Tommy looked away and shrugged. “I dunno. Some comment about his scars or something.”

At this, Zack furrowed his eyebrows. David had a large burn scar across his face, which Zack assumed was related to the burns that Tommy sported on her arms.

“No way. I happen to think I have a rather pretty face, and I don't want you to beat it in,” Zack said with a smirk.

Tommy chuckled and said, “Good call. You should've warned the assholes I fought a couple days ago. It's how I ended up in detention.”

Zack gave a low whistle. “No way. I wish I could've been there to see. Or maybe even help.”

“Is that how you ended up in detention? Fighting a bunch of assholes?” she asked.

“I wish it was something that cool,” Zack said with a sharp laugh. “I actually go because I have nothing better to do. The morning shift was already filled, and all my friends are there anyways.”

“Very ‘Breakfast Club’-esque,” she said with a nod.

“You have no idea,” he said, shaking his head slightly.

As they approached the cafe, Zack saw everyone lounging at a table through the window.

“Wow, do you guys meet this early every Sunday?” Tommy asked, looking over at Zack. However, he looked just as surprised as her.

“Not usually,” he said. He moved faster and quickly slipped through the door with Tommy right behind him.

He rushed up to the table, and right as Jason and Billy noticed him, he slung his arm around Trini and Kimberly.

“Aw guys, you woke up early for me!” he said, earning a scowl from Trini who immediately shoved his arm off. Kim seemed to tolerate him better, though she still rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Did you miss me that much?”

“Don't flatter yourself,” Trini groaned, the circles under her eyes looking worse than usual. “I'm only here for the coffee.”

“So you say, but I know better,” Zack said. “You guys order yet?”

“No, David said we had to wait until the cafe actually opened,” Billy said, “but he was nice enough to let us in.”

“Don't worry. I'll make your drinks now, and you can ‘order’ and pay for them when we open,” Zack said, standing up and pulling away from the table.

He noticed that Jason’s eyes had never left Tommy for a moment. He turned towards Tommy, who looked a little uncomfortable, and pulled her over by putting his arm around her shoulders.

“By the way, look who I ran into this morning! The one and only Tommy Oliver,” he said, at which Kim and Trini spun around in their seats to take a look.

There was a pause of silence, during which Tommy waved shyly. Kim was the first to break the silence by greeting her.

“Hey Tommy! I'm Kimberly,” she said with a smile. “Why don't you pull up a seat and join us?” She looked between everybody and Tommy, before scooting her chair closer to Trini to make room for Tommy.

“Uh, sure. Yeah okay,” she mumbled. She looked at Zack, who gave her his classic grin, and then went to grab a chair from a nearby table.

“Well you kids have fun while I get your drinks,” Zack said. He swivelled around to head to the counter before stopping and turning back around. “Oh! By the way Tommy, what's your order?”

“Uh, just a medium black coffee,” Tommy said, shuffling in her seat to get comfortable.

“Of course,” Zack said with a shake of his head and a grin. “Don't have too much fun without me.” Zack rushed off to go behind the bar.

“And just when they need me the most,” he chuckled under his breath. Still, he had faith in Kim and Billy to moderate the awkwardness.

In the back, he could hear the rustling of boxes and equipment as who he assumed was David prepared the cafe for the day.

“Hey David!” he said as he headed into the back room. He grabbed an apron and threw it on. “What else is there left to do?”

“Cutting it close aren't you?” he heard David call from further back. Soon, he emerged with a box of various supplied, plopping it on the counter. “You could get started on the first brew of coffee and tea. I'm just finishing up with restocking everything.”

“Alright,” Zack said, grabbing the ground coffee beans and tea bags. “And you can blame your sister. I ran into her this morning.”

“Tommy?” David asked, pulling out sugar packs and cream cups. Zack made a noise of affirmation as they both walked out to the front counter. David’s face brightened at the sight of Tommy. “Hey Tommy!”

He walked out from behind the bar, refilling the condiments before going over to where everyone was seated.

“Hey David!” Tommy said, looking almost relieved to have found a friendly face, though Kim had made a valiant effort to facilitate conversation. Tommy turned to the others. “He's my brother.”

“And you must be Tommy’s friends!” David said with a wide grin, leaning over Tommy’s seat. “Any friend of Tommy is a friend of mine, and I share my discounts with my friends.”

“Oh! These aren’t really my friends,” Tommy rushed to say, waving her hands. “I just met them.”

“Don't be rude,” David responded, smacking Tommy’s arm, “or I won't extend my discount to you.”

Tommy jabbed David’s stomach in protest, though he seemed unaffected, only laughing in response.

“Hey Zack,” Kim called out, causing Zack to look up from the coffee machine. “Why we don't get your discounts?”

Zack grinned and yelled back, “Because you can't put a price on my love!”

David grinned and clapped Tommy back.

“Alright, well I gotta get back to work. You kids enjoy yourselves,” he said before heading back to where Zack was stationed.

They continued to work, and Zack noticed the group seemed to be opening up more to Tommy’s presence, though Trini seemed to still be on edge. She seemed more alert even without any coffee, and under the table he could see her tapping her fingers on her leg. Then Kim grabbed Trini’s hand though, soothingly rubbing Trini’s hand with her thumb, and Zack relaxed a little, sure that Trini would be fine.

“Need any help?” David asked, coming up next to Zack. “I need something to do, or I swear I'm gonna fall asleep.”

“Yeah sure. You could finish up these brews and pour a large and a medium coffee and a medium tea,” Zack said, moving aside to make room for David. “I gotta start up the espresso machine. Have a rough night?”

“Not exactly,” David said with a dry laugh. He grabbed the cups while waiting for the brew to finish. “I work the night shift down at the weird hole in the ground as security. The roughest part of the job is trying to stay awake.”

“Whoah, man. When do you even sleep?” Zack said, as he filled the machine with water and grabbed the coffee ground.

“In the afternoon, after my morning shifts,” David said, pulling the pot out and filling up each up. “I'm used to the weird sleeping pattern at this point, which is why I don't get why I've been feeling so exhausted lately.”

“I'm sorry bro,” Zack said. He grabbed a cup to fill with one shot of espresso. “You wanna take a nap in the back room? I'll wake you up when we actually start getting busy.”

“Nah, were almost about to open. I don't want to leave you with all of our desperate customers,” David said, capping the three cups and labeling each drink.

Zack laughed and said, “Alright, man. Whatever you say.” He finished making an Americano and got started on the next drink.

“These cups for your friends over there?” David asked. He carried them over to the pick-up counter.

“Yup. Except for the large coffee. That one’s for you,” Zack said, glancing and grinning over at David’s surprised face while he waited for the espresso machine to fill up another cup with two shots.

“For me?” David echoed, lifting up the coffee in question.

“Yeah. Don't worry, it’s on me.” Zack turned back to work on making a cappuccino. He added in the cream and foam, drizzling caramel syrup on the top.

“Are you sure? You don't have to,” David said.

“No, I'm sure,” Zack said. “After all, you're giving all my friends discounts. It's the least I could do.” He capped off the drinks and walked over to the counter with David.

“Thank you. Seriously,” David said, and the two shared a smile before Zack turned to face his friends.

“Alright nerds!” Zack called out. “I got your drinks!”

“But there's only four drinks here,” David said, looking between the five kids who were getting up.

“Yeah, that's because Kim doesn't really drink coffee. Or tea,” Zack said, heading over to the sink. He filled a cup with water and walked back. “She just gets water and steals a sip from us whenever she wants.”

“Well none of you ever seem to mind,” Kim said with a smirk as she approached.

“But we complain about it all the time,” Billy said. “Or, well, the others do. I don't mind sharing my tea.”

“Yeah, and if anyone really cared that much, they would complain more,” Kim said, casually swiping the cappuccino and taking a sip.

“Heeey,” Trini groaned. “That's mine.” She made grabby hands, at which Kim laughed and gave up the cup.

“And now that you guys are open, I guess we can finally order?” Jason said with a lilt at the end, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah sure,” David said with a laugh. “If Zack’s gonna make your drinks anyway, I guess that next time I'll just let you order a little early.”

“Hey guys, I got all of your drinks covered today,” Jason said, and when the others started protesting, he continued, “Look, it's no big deal, and besides it'll make the whole process easier. You can pay me back the next time we go out.”

He looked towards Tommy specifically at the end of his statement, sharing a smile with her direction as a sort of silent agreement that they would hang out again.

“Well if that’s how we’re doing it, I call paying for donuts next time!” Kim said, walking away with a shrug.

“What? Ugh, I swear you guys always try to do this,” Trini moaned, trailing after Kim.

“Uh, well then I call paying for whatever comes after the donuts,” Billy said. He grabbed his tea and Jason’s Americano as he left. “Or before, if we’re getting something before we get the donuts. Just whatever bill we gotta pay for that isn’t for donuts, I got that one.”

Trini groaned, “Not you too.”

“You guys are so weird,” Tommy said, laughing as she shook her head.

Jason smiled fondly at them, and then went to the cash register to pay. David moved to follow Jason, but Zack stopped him and said, “Don’t worry bro, I got this.”

He met up with Jason at the register and started ringing up all the purchases.

“Sooo, how's the talk with Tommy going?” Zack asked, glancing up at Jason’s face.

“It's alright. Tommy seems like an okay person, but I don't know. I'm still a little worried,” Jason said quietly. He definitely looked worried, though that wasn’t really something new. “Especially about the whole ‘Rita returning’ thing. I don’t know how much we can trust Tommy.”

So, does this mean we’re not going to bring up the whole Ranger thing to Tommy, or…?”

“I don't know. I'm not sure if I should,” Jason said. “I mean, first of all it's only speculation that Tommy has found the Coin, right? And even if if she has it for sure, I want to get to know her a little better before bringing her into the team.”

“Alright, that’s fair,” Zack said, nodding his head. “Just wanted to check before I complained about Zordon or something in front of her.”

Jason grinned and said, “Me too, buddy. Me too.”

“See ya later, pretty boy,” Zack said, giving a mock salute, before heading back to work.

 

* * *

 

Zack stretched as he exited the cafe, having finally finished his last shift of the day. He breathed in the fresh air and sighed.

It was 5:00 PM, a full twelve hours from the start of his morning shift. It was tiring, but he thankfully didn’t really need to deal with customers too often. After the usual morning rush, business slowed down considerably with only the occasional customer in the afternoon.

He pulled out his phone to check what the gang had been up to after they had left the cafe.

He saw that both Billy and Jason had privately messaged him about two hours ago. He swiped to check Jason’s message first.

**PrettyBoy**

_Active 2 hours ago_

**PrettyBoy** : You’re welcome

Along with the short message, Jason had sent a picture of Trini, who had fallen asleep on Kim on the couch, and Kim holding her middle finger up.

Zack sent the response:

 **prettierboy** : i owe you my life

 **prettierboy** : but also, as trini would say, you’ve probably been spending too much time with me

Then, he tapped over to Billy’s message.

**Prettiest Boy**

_Active 2 hours ago_

**Prettiest Boy** : Kim says that if you don’t delete the photo that Jason sent, she’s going to make you regret it at practice tomorrow.

He laughed and started typing his response.

 **prettierboy** : why didn’t she threaten me herself then???

Billy responded almost immediately.

 **Prettiest Boy** : She didn’t want to wake up Trini.

Zack laughed out loud and said, “Of course,” to himself, before his phone buzzed once more.

 **Prettiest Boy** : Also, Kim didn’t say any of this out loud because she didn’t want to wake up Trini.

 **Prettiest Boy** : She just gave glares and made signals with her free hand.

 **Prettiest Boy** : In case you wanted the visual.

 **prettierboy** : you are a literal angel

 **Prettiest Boy** : You guys call me that way too often! :)

 **prettierboy** : is everyone still together rn?

 **Prettiest Boy** : Well, Jason and I are still hanging. Trini woke up, and Kim took her back home, and Tommy went home as well.

 **Prettiest Boy** : Did you want to come over and join us?

 **prettierboy** : nah, it’s all good

 **prettierboy** : i need to get home anyway

 **Prettiest Boy** : Okay then! See you tomorrow. :)

He locked his phone and began to head home. He needed to cook for his mom. And for himself he supposed, though he’d eaten more than he’d planned to during the day.

Zack was used to not eating, and having the Ranger powers had helped with feeling less faint and tired. Ever since he became a Ranger, however, he had become more used to people caring about him, and so when David pushed him to eat lunch, he couldn’t really say no.

When he made it home, he went to his mother’s side to pick up the empty dishes that she had left.

“ _What time did you leave?_ ” his mom asked, trying to sit up. Zack put down the dishes to help her up. “ _You were gone when I woke up._ ”

“ _Don’t worry, mom. It wasn’t too early,_ ” he said. Once his mom was sitting upright, he went back to getting the dishes. “ _How are you feeling?_ “

“ _I’m fine. You should be focusing more on your health,_ ” she said, worry creasing her eyebrows.

“ _How was the food?_ ” Zack said, trying to change the subject. “ _Did I do your recipes justice?_ ”

Her eyebrows were still narrowed, but she seemed to go along with the new direction of the conversation.

“ _You were close, but you forgot what makes them special,_ ” she said.

“ _And what’s that?_ ” he said, waiting for her response.

“ _Being able to share them with you,_ ” she said, holding onto his arm. She gave a slight smile that Zack returned before he put the dishes in the sink.

“ _Well, fortunately I’ll be here for dinner to make the meal special,_ ” he said. He rinsed them in water and left them there to soak. Then, he walked over to the fridge and pulled it open to survey the contents. “ _Is there anything you wanted for dinner?_ ”

“ _Surprise me,_ ” she called out.

“ _Your mistake,_ ” Zack said with a smile.

 

* * *

 

He wasn’t sure for how long he had been out by the abandoned train box car. He knew that he had left home at around 7:00, but when he was out by himself, time seemed to blend together.

Being out by the mines made him feel so frustrated, and yet he kept coming back. He felt like he should be doing something more, but he also felt too exhausted to even care.

He was currently pacing, making a sort of game from kicking around the many rocks scattered across the ground. If he sat still, he would start thinking, and he that was the one thing he wanted to avoid.

Suddenly, someone kicked a rock into his line of vision, and he spun around to see Trini leaning on the box car with her hands in her pockets.

“Whatcha doin’ out here?” she called out to him.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Zack said, causing Trini to shrug her shoulders.

She looked at the ground and began walking towards him. “Guess, I was looking for you. Had a feeling you might be here.”

Zack cocked his head and waited for Trini to make eye contact with him again before speaking. “What’s going on, crazy girl?” he said as she finally reached him, kicking rocks on her way over.

Trini paused for a moment before saying, “Kim told me. About what she did to Amanda.”

Zack’s mouth made an “o” shape as Trini continued.

“And apparently I was the last person to find out, which I know isn’t the most important part of the whole thing, but I can’t help but feel,” she paused in an effort to find the right word, “I don’t know, offended? Or just hurt? I mean I thought we were best friends.”

“I thought I was your best friend?” Zack said with a fake pout, causing Trini to roll her eyes.

“Okay, but like with Kim it’s different. I thought—” Trini broke off at the end, but Zack filled in her hesitation.

“You thought that you were special to her,” Zack said. Trini kicked at the ground some more, and Zack sighed. “Trini, of course you’re special to her. Why do you think she told you last?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Trini asked, turning to face him with her eyes squinted.

“Look, Kim waited so long to tell you because she was afraid of how you’d react. She was afraid of losing you,” Zack said with a smile.

“So basically, she didn’t trust me,” Trini scoffed. “Gee thanks.”

“Seriously?” Zack said, raising an eyebrow. “Trini, if you had a huge secret that you thought could push everyone away from you, who would you tell first?”

“I already came out, remember? At the bonfire?” Trini said with a wry smile.

“Ok, well pretend that you hadn’t,” Zack said. “Pretend like you needed to come out, and you were scared that we would hate you for being gay. Who would you tell first?”

Trini paused, looking away in thought.

“I guess I would tell you first?” she said, sounding unsure of herself.

“Obviously,” Zack said with a grin while Trini glared at him. “And then who would you tell next?”

“I don’t know!” Trini said, throwing her hands up in the air. “I guess Billy?”

“Okay, and then who would tell after him?” Zack said.

“Ok, fine I get it! I wouldn’t tell Kim because I don’t want to lose her,” Trini said. She crossed her arms. “But this is different, okay?”

“Different how?” Zack asked, his eyebrows narrowing.

“It just is, okay?” she said while looking at the ground, and her tone indicated that she didn’t want to talk about it further.

“Okay,” Zack said, and joined Trini in kicking rocks. For a while, they played a sort of game, passing rocks and pretending to be goalies, before Zack spoke up once more. “And what about Amanda? How do you feel about that?”

Trini hesitated, allowing Zack to get an easy goal in.

“Cheater,” she said, kicking a rock up at his face that he easily dodged with a laugh. Then she paused and said, “I don’t know. How did you feel?”

Zack shrugged. “I was angry at first, but I realized that Kim’s a better person now. Or at least she’s trying to be a better person.”

Trini scrunched up her face in thought, kicking a rock over that Zack only barely caught.

“Yeah. I guess you’re right,” she said, continuing to kick more rocks at Zack without allowing him to counter. “I just— I mean this whole time I thought Amanda was the bully, but she was actually the victim.”

“Why can’t she be both?” Zack said, finally giving up and letting Trini’s shots pass him. “I mean she was a bully even before Kim sent that photo to Ty. That doesn’t make her any less of a victim. And her victim status doesn’t make her any less of a bully.”

“So what makes Kim less of a bully?” Trini said, stopping for a moment.

“Well Kim was a bully for what she did to Amanda. There’s no denying that, but at least Kim regrets what she did and is actively trying to be a better person,” Zack said, shooting a rock past an unmoving Trini.

After Trini stayed silent for a while, Zack continued, “You know, you don’t have to forgive Kim right now. It’s okay to be upset with her. It’s okay to take time away from her.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to be upset at her!” Trini whined. “I just wish that she’d never done it.”

“Well, I’m sure that she wishes the same thing,” Zack said with a sympathetic smile on his face.

“Yeah,” Trini said softly, looking at the ground and kicking at the dirt, ditching the rock game they had had going on.

“Just give it time,” Zack said, walking closer to her. “Things will work themselves out.”

They looked at each other in a comfortable silence before Trini finally said, “What were you doing out here anyway?”

Zack’s smile faltered for a fraction of a second, and though he tried to cover it up, he was sure Trini noticed.

He remained silent, debating between saying “just chilling” and “it’s no big deal,” but Trini seemed to catch on to what he was thinking.

“C’mon, Zack. I know that something’s up,” Trini said, giving him a mixed look of exasperation and worry. “Just tell me the truth, please?”

Zack hesitated, pursing his lips before saying, “I played a game of chess against my mom.”

Trini looked on in confusion as he paused before continuing, “I beat her.”

All of the muscles in Trini’s face suddenly relaxed as she realized what Zack was saying.

“It’s the first time I’ve beaten her. Ever,” Zack said. He let out a sharp laugh and said, “Even when I was a little kid, she never went easy on me or let me win.”

Trini moved to his side, holding onto his shoulder as he leaned into her.

Zack let out a shaky breath. “And she kept saying how she was proud of me. How I was growing into such a smart, young man.”

He stopped there, not sure how to explain it further. Not sure if he even _wanted_ to explain it further. That he didn’t want to grow up, and he didn’t want thing to be changing so quickly, and he wished he could have never beaten his mom at chess because it meant that things were getting worse, and he didn’t want to acknowledge that fact.

He didn’t want to think about the fact that they were all getting older.

“Are we even gonna make it?” he whispered into the night, not really intending for anyone to hear it, but of course Trini did.

She held him tighter and said, “Of course we will. We’ll all drag each other through this somehow.”

Zack nodded and then said, “Yeah. Somehow.”

And at least for now, “somehow” seemed to be a good enough promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooooooww, so this took forever. Sorry! Also, I know the ending of this chapter is a little abrupt, but I got a little lazy and didn't know what else to write sooooo yeah. 
> 
> The next chapter shouldn't take as long though. 
> 
> (I say that now)
> 
> (but really it shouldn't)
> 
> EDIT: Also, I changed Tommy's brother name to his actual canon name of David. :P Sorry, I'm not that well-versed in the old Power Rangers universe.


End file.
